Official Report: search what was said in Parliament
The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.
The Official Report search offers lots of different ways to find the information you’re looking for. The search is used as a professional tool by researchers and third-party organisations. It is also used by members of the public who may have less parliamentary awareness. This means it needs to provide the ability to run complex searches, and the ability to browse reports or perform a simple keyword search.
Searching by different views
The web version of the Official Report has three different views:
- Report: this is the whole Official Report for a particular meeting of a committee or Parliament
- Item of business: this is each individual agenda item in an Official Report. For example, Portfolio Questions would be the item of business in a Meeting of the Parliament report
- Contribution: this is each time someone has made a spoken contribution to a meeting.
Depending on the kind of search you want to do, one of these views will be the best option. The default view is to show the report for each meeting of Parliament or a committee. For a simple keyword search, the results will be shown by item of business.
Search by MSP
When you choose to search by a particular MSP, the results returned will show each spoken contribution in Parliament or a committee, ordered by date with the most recent contributions first. This will usually return a lot of results, but you can refine your search by keyword, date and/or by meeting (committee or Chamber business).
We’ve chosen to display the entirety of each MSP’s contribution in the search results. This is intended to reduce the number of times that users need to click into an actual report to get the information that they’re looking for, but in some cases it can lead to very short contributions (“Yes.”) or very long ones (Ministerial statements, for example.) We’ll keep this under review and get feedback from users on whether this approach best meets their needs.
Searching by keyword
There are two types of keyword search:
- A keyword search without quotation marks will look for every instance of each word used and rank the results by frequency and proximity. It will also include variants of the keywords using “porter stemming”. This is when the search looks for the “stem” of a word regardless of its ending. So, for example, a search for [salmon farm] will return each instance of “salmon” and each instance of “farm” as well as potentially including results for “farms”, “farmed” and “farming”.
- A keyword search with quotation marks will only return instances of that exact phrase used. So, for example, a search for “salmon farm” in quotation marks will only return instances of that exact phrase.
Combining search filters
If you select an MSP’s name from the dropdown menu, and add a phrase in quotation marks to the keyword field, then the search will return only examples of when the MSP said those exact words. You can further refine this search by adding a date range or selecting a particular committee or Meeting of the Parliament.
More complex keyword searches
It’s also possible to run basic Boolean searches. For example:
- a search for “salmon farm” AND “Loch Lomond” will return only results which include both exact phrases
- a search for “salmon farm” NOT “Loch Lomond” will return results for “salmon farm” but exclude results which also include “Loch Lomond”
- a search for “salmon farm” OR “Loch Lomond” will return all results for “salmon farm” and all results for “Loch Lomond” regardless of whether they appear together
Searching by date
There are two ways of searching by date.
You can either use the Start date and End date options to run a search across a particular date range. For example, you may know that a particular subject was discussed at some point in the last few weeks and choose a date range to reflect that.
Alternatively, you can use one of the pre-defined date ranges under “Select a time period”. These are:
- Current session (all Official Reports since the current sessions started)
- Last 6 months
- Last 12 months
- each of the previous sessions of Parliament. (Selecting the information icon above the “Select a time period” menu will give you the exact dates for each session.)
- All sessions
- You can also choose to select a custom date range, although adding a Start or End date will mean the search automatically defaults to this option.
If you search by an individual session, the list of łÉČËżěĘÖ and committees will automatically update to show only the łÉČËżěĘÖ and committees which were current during that session. For example, if you select Session 1 you will be show a list of łÉČËżěĘÖ and committees from Session 1.
If you add a custom date range which crosses more than one session of Parliament, the lists of łÉČËżěĘÖ and committees will update to show the information that was current at that time.
All Official Reports of meetings in the Debating Chamber of the Scottish Parliament.
All Official Reports of public meetings of committees.
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Displaying 359 contributions
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Criminal Justice Committee, Health, Social Care and Sport Committee, and Social Justice and Social Security Committee (Joint Meeting)
Reducing Drug Deaths in Scotland and Tackling Problem Drug Use
Meeting date: 2 February 2022
Foysol Choudhury
Good morning, David; it is nice to see you in your new role. I have only one question for you.
The National Records of Scotland publication, “Homeless Deaths 2020”, showed that more than half those deaths were drug related. There were 151 homeless drug-related deaths, which was up from 68 in 2017. In 2020, homeless drug-related deaths accounted for 10 per cent of all drug-related deaths. Can you confirm what action has been taken to reduce homeless drug-related deaths and ensure that people who are homeless and suffer from drug-related harms can access key support services, including drug treatment services? What is being done to reach out to that population?
Criminal Justice Committee, Health, Social Care and Sport Committee, and Social Justice and Social Security Committee (Joint Meeting)
Reducing Drug Deaths in Scotland and Tackling Problem Drug Use
Meeting date: 2 February 2022
Foysol Choudhury
It does. Thank you.
Criminal Justice Committee, Health, Social Care and Sport Committee, and Social Justice and Social Security Committee (Joint Meeting)
Reducing Drug Deaths in Scotland and Tackling Problem Drug Use
Meeting date: 2 February 2022
Foysol Choudhury
Good morning, minister. In November, the Scottish Government published “Pathways into, through and out of Residential Rehabilitation in Scotland: Results from the Residential Rehabilitation Providers Survey”.
One concern that was raised in the survey was that homelessness services are under pressure to reduce figures, and those who are homeless but in residential treatment are still classed as homeless. That means that they might need to leave residential treatment earlier than advised, due to the pressure on the homelessness sector to reduce the figures. It is unclear from the survey whether that is a localised issue or a wider problem. Has the Scottish Government investigated that concern in more detail? If so, what were its findings, and has any action been taken to address those concerns, given the potential adverse impact on those who are receiving care?
Criminal Justice Committee, Health, Social Care and Sport Committee, and Social Justice and Social Security Committee (Joint Meeting)
Reducing Drug Deaths in Scotland and Tackling Problem Drug Use
Meeting date: 1 February 2022
Foysol Choudhury
Good afternoon, minister. The UK Government’s drug strategy, which was launched in December, seems very much focused on the outdated law-and-order approach to tackling the drugs crisis. Do you not agree that the response to drug addiction needs to be public health focused?
Criminal Justice Committee, Health, Social Care and Sport Committee, and Social Justice and Social Security Committee (Joint Meeting)
Reducing Drug Deaths in Scotland and Tackling Problem Drug Use
Meeting date: 1 February 2022
Foysol Choudhury
I think that I am out of time, convener.
Criminal Justice Committee, Health, Social Care and Sport Committee, and Social Justice and Social Security Committee (Joint Meeting)
Reducing Drug Deaths in Scotland and Tackling Problem Drug Use
Meeting date: 1 February 2022
Foysol Choudhury
Organised crime continues to blight our communities and prey on people who are suffering from drug addiction, and cross-border co-operation between police forces and crime agencies has an essential role to play in tackling it. Can you provide some detail of how Police Scotland and other police forces in the UK are working together to ensure that organised crime bosses face justice?
Social Justice and Social Security Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 27 January 2022
Foysol Choudhury
Will there be much difference in the application process for those who are on CDP compared to those who are not on it?
Social Justice and Social Security Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 27 January 2022
Foysol Choudhury
I have one last question. Short-term assistance is available while someone challenges a decision to reduce or stop their benefit, but it is not available to someone who applies for a different benefit. The Scottish Government rejected the SCOSS recommendation on that. Will the minister explain more in detail about that decision?
Social Justice and Social Security Committee
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 27 January 2022
Foysol Choudhury
Thank you, convener—welcome to the group and congratulations. I also congratulate our colleague Neil Gray on his new post.
What support will be given to young people who are transferring to ADP, and how will it be deployed?
Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee
Continued Petitions
Meeting date: 19 January 2022
Foysol Choudhury
I again thank my constituent Lewis Condy, who brought this important issue to the Parliament’s attention and provided a considered response to the Scottish Government’s submission. This is a good example of positive citizen engagement with the Scottish Parliament. Lewis has, throughout, emphasised the importance of equality of access to swimming lessons. Inequality of access is a big problem, as has been highlighted repeatedly in the responses to the committee, and is a key failure in the current situation.
I thank all those who signed the petition and the organisations that responded to the committee’s request for more information. They have provided a wealth of evidence about the value of swimming lessons and the factors that influence the inequality of access to them.
I note the following points in the response from COSLA. The Scottish Government previously answered a written question in Parliament from me about swimming lessons and competency levels in primary school children, by saying that the information was not held centrally. I am concerned and disappointed to learn that COSLA confirms that not only is there no data to indicate the presence of swimming lessons across Scotland, there is no mechanism to collect such data. It also notes the variations in the provision of swimming lessons across the country, with the availability of facilities and the cost of lessons being significant factors that drive unequal access. Although extracurricular support of the active schools network is highlighted, only 21 local authorities offer swimming activity through the network, and it is not known how many children that reaches.
The response from Scottish Swimming confirms the initial concerns raised by the petitioner that
“over 40% of children leave primary school unable to swim in Scotland”
Furthermore, it notes that only 10.5 per cent of children in swimming lessons through its learn to swim framework come from the most deprived areas of Scotland, and that there is a
“direct correlation between a child’s socio-economic background and their opportunity to learn to swim.”
If we are serious about tackling inequality, we need a very different approach.
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents notes that in England, despite swimming being a statutory part of the national curriculum, a significant number of children leave primary education without being able to swim. It highlights the known issue of equality of access, including that it is affected by a family’s affluence and location. ROSPA’s submission indicates that swimming lessons as a statutory requirement might not in itself be a panacea. Making swimming lessons mandatory without support for and from the organisations that would need to be involved in delivery may not have the desired effects, so a whole package of measures require consideration.
There is also evidence that is available through other sources in England and Wales that identifies particular barriers to accessing swimming regularly for some ethnic minority communities, which have proportionately fewer children who are able to swim and be confident in water safety.
From the responses to my constituent’s petition, we have seen that there is widespread support in the sector for doing more on that issue. The committee has heard that there is no statutory curriculum in Scotland. However, the Scottish Government has previously found means to mandate an inclusive education in other areas where it has deemed that necessary.
At its heart, this is a question of social justice as much as it is one of education. The committee has heard that there are significant social disparities in the provision of swimming lessons. We know that access to swimming lessons gives people a benefit to their safety around water and to their health, fitness and wellbeing. Resolving those disparities is a matter of equality of opportunity.
The issue has public support and clear support from the sectors involved and, if properly addressed, would provide significant benefit to society. Many points have been raised by the organisations involved in that area, and the committee might wish to put those points to the cabinet secretary for further comment.
I thank the committee for allowing me this opportunity to speak.
